Lamara Distin of Jamaica competes in the women’s high jump final during the athletics in the Alexander Stadium at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant).
Lamara Distin set a new Jamaican women’s high jump record by clearing 2.00m to claim victory at the Southern Eastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday.
The senior from Texas A&M University not only surpassed her previous national record of 1.97m, set last year, but also broke her own meet record of 1.95m and Hooker Tex’s championship record of 1.98m set in 2016. Additionally, she matched the facility record.
Distin secured first place ahead of Rachel Glenn from Arkansas (1.94m) and Elena Kulichenko from the University of Georgia (1.91m). Another Jamaican athlete, Nia Robinson of Arkansas, achieved a new personal best of 1.75m, placing 12th.
Romaine Beckford, also from Jamaica and representing the University of Arkansas after transferring from South Florida, clinched his first SEC championship in the high jump with a clearance of 2.25m.
Jamaica’s Brianna Lyston of Louisiana State University tied the meet record in winning the women’s 60m with a time of 7.08.
On Friday, Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock, a junior at Arkansas, seized the long jump title with a third-round leap of 8.28m. Pinnock’s victory marked the first time a male athlete secured the indoor crown for the Razorbacks since Jarrion Lawson in 2016.
